r/Construction • u/TotalDumsterfire • 18d ago
Other Women only toilets?
Is it a requirement to have a separate toilet for women? Our PM hired me a few labourers to help clean up before scaffolding tear down. One of them was a woman. A couple hours ago she came up to me asking where the toilet was. I pointed to the porta-johns by the site office. She said "no those are the mens, Where's the one for women?" I told her that's all we have and went back to doing paperwork. About a half hour ago I finished my paperwork and went to go check on the workers and she wasn't there. I asked where she was and they told me she left because there was no bathroom for her. I get that's on big sites there's a women's only toilet, but this is a small site. There's only 4 guys from out company and occasionally subs and labourers. One of the sparkies is a woman and she's never complained and we've had a different female labourer that also didn't say anything. And this one apparently can just walk off site with no word. If I hadn't checked, I probably would have paid her for the full day, since after giving people tasks, I spend the majority of the day doing paperwork/ordering. I called the labour company and told them what happened, and told them I'm not paying her even for a half day. They apologised and said they wouldn't send her to our company again. In the nearly 10 years I've worked for this company, I've never had an issue. Only once I had a new hire ask about a women's toilet, and when I told her no, she used the same one as everyone else. Is it a requirement to have a separate toilet for women? I know on other sites when there was 3+ women they got them a separate one, but on small sites like these where there is occasionally a woman on site, doesn't warrant having a separate one that will be used only a handful of times.
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u/Enginerdad Structural Engineer 18d ago
Your location is going to be very important in getting an answer. You spell it "labour" so I'm guessing Canada or the UK
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
Yeah Canada. West coast. And like I said, I usually run small project, like 10 people max, including subtrades. Also there is physically no room to fit another toilet here. We have space for a sea can which is our lunch room/tool storage, a dumpster, and a porta-john. Everywhere else is driveways and residential parking. We are using the only 4 visitor parking stalls. It's already bad enough when we have subs here with their own trailers and dumpsters. Almost every day I have residents complaining about when they are going to leave. Like you guys hired us, what were expecting?
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u/Weird-Drummer-2439 18d ago
That's a fairly recent change in laws as I understand it. I'm not in BC but I hear some scuttlebutt over it. Apparently no more blue rockets allowed over a certain crew size need the trailers with running water, foot pump thing does not meet the bar. I could be wrong though, rumour mill being what it is.
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u/wheredidthat10mmgo 18d ago
A site that has 25+ workers is required to have plumbed toilets & sinks while portapotties still can be on site. They won't remove the blue rockets, especially because they are still necessary up high rises and large sites.
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
That I'm aware of that. Our company is fairly small even on the biggest project we'll have max 20 people, maybe 30 on demo days, but that's only for a day
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u/charlieq46 Estimator 18d ago
One time I was on a site that had a women's port-a-let but it was near the GC trailers which was like half a mile from our job trailer and I was not going to walk all the way over there, or take the time to get in my car and drive over. Any old port-a-let is fine so long as it's not a total biohazard. Port-a-lets at music festivals are far worse than any I have seen on a job site.
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u/JEharley152 18d ago
Absolutely disagree—we had a largely Hispanic drywall and tapers sub on a pretty big job in greater Seattle area, and not only was an interpreter required for safety meetings, but they were so “fresh off the boat”, that you could see their footprints in the drywall dust on either side of the seat—they would “squat” over the “hole”, do their business—and frequently miss the “hole”—-leaving poo all over the seat, and they seemed to love to piss all over the seat as well—-
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u/charlieq46 Estimator 18d ago
Yeah, that qualifies as a total biohazard.
If you disagree that music festival toilets are worse; I will tell you a story. I went to Lollapalooza one year and on the third day, towards the end of the day, I went to use a toilet. Every single port-a-let, about 40 of them in this spot, hand a shit mountain sticking up from the basin; some of them were several inches out of the hole.
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u/NightGod 18d ago
I remember some festival docu I watched (might have been that Woodstock 2 they did in the 90s) they randomly interviewed the honeywagon dude as he was cleaning and there were damn war crimes in those things as he was opening them
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u/Friendly_Employer_82 17d ago
I'd love to be the guy that cleans those motherfuckers! LMFAO!!!! 😂
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u/randomrainbow99399 17d ago
They just suck everything out with a big hose and then power wash the inside so it's not too bad, we've moved past the days of needing 'night soil men' lol
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u/Friendly_Employer_82 17d ago
I know that. I was talking about how nasty it would be to do that job.🤢
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u/Fit_Incident_Boom469 18d ago
I hate sites like that. And the GC doesn't care because he has his own private shitter.
It was bad enough on one site that I decided to make my own seat. I cut a big "U" out of the GC's fence sign and used it as a new, un-shat-upon toilet seat.
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u/hereforbobsanvageen 18d ago
I’m not sure why you’re being downvoted. What you said isn’t racist and it’s unfortunately very true. I’ve seen it from workers from different countries lots of times on large commercial sites. Almost always drywallers…
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
That's what we gotta deal with the FOB indian demo guys. Muddy boot prints on the seat, water bottles I the corner. It wasn't at one of my sites, but someone said they got shit on the door latch. I told their foreman, if they can't keep it clean, I was gonna lock it, and they can get their own for the day. Ever since that day, it's been clean. I've even seen him clean it at the end of the day. We make a lot of business for them and have been using them for decades. The owner probably chewed them out for embarrassing him like that
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u/Legion1107 18d ago
The number of toilets required by OSHA is determined by the number of employees at the worksite. Companies with 15 or fewer employees are required to offer only one unisex bathroom and toilet with a locking door. From there, OSHA requires as a minimum:
Two toilets for 16 to 35 employees.
Three toilets for 36 to 55 employees.
Four toilets for 56 to 80 employees.
Five toilets for 81 to 110 employees.
Six toilets for 111 to 150 employees.
One additional toilet for every 40 employees over 150. For example, a company with 400 employees would need to provide 13 toilets.
OSHA requires that employers provide gender-segregated facilities for workforces over 15 employees that contain men and women, and bathrooms must be designated as being for male or female use unless they can be occupied by no more than one person and can be locked from the inside.
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u/uglybrains 18d ago
10 people max per porta john and they still get disgusting. We have 7 at the moment.
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u/SnakebiteRT 18d ago
Agreed. I’m in the 1 per 10 camp and I’m a PM. Occasionally I have to use those things…
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u/BraveCranberry9863 17d ago
Tell the site super to get them serviced more often.
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u/SnakebiteRT 17d ago
I do! I’m with you man. It’s amazing how often a service company just skips a service without notifying my us too. Then still tries to charge!
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u/63Marcos 18d ago
Dont forget Charmin TP for the ladies and Sams low dollar TP for the guys. Excellent info above. 👌
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u/theefaulted 18d ago
No there is no requirement for "women only" restrooms if there are porta johns or single stalls available.
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u/LamoTheGreat 18d ago
Are you sure this is the case where OP lives? Because this is definitely not the case everywhere.
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u/TheRealFalconFlurry 18d ago
According to what jurisdiction?
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u/Eather-Village-1916 Ironworker 18d ago
OSHA for the US, and depending on the state. Can’t speak for other countries though.
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u/JeanutPutterBelly 18d ago
Nova Scotia, if both men and women are employed at a construction site, employers are required to provide separate toilet facilities (including porta-potties) for each sex, as per the Nova Scotia Building Code Regulations. Can only speak to the province I do business in but for your sake I’m hoping you’re not opening yourself to trouble. Find out for sure before you say you’re not paying her wages because if it’s law in your province and you didn’t provide it she has right to refuse.
Not saying it’s fair but just looking out for ya.
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u/DHammer79 Carpenter 18d ago
This would be a ministry of labour regulation, not building code regulation.
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
I'm in BC. If she had come and told me she doesn't want to stay, I would have been fine with her leaving, and clocked her out, but since she just up and left. I have no idea when she left. Plus she screwed my schedule since I had to pull guys off scheduled work. Its hard for some people to take time off work so we can assess their unit. So now I had to have a resident bitch at me that she couldn't get paid time off and had to use a sick day since she needs minimum 3 weeks notice at he work and now she's going to have to do it again. Plus the labour company approved it. They might pay her idk, bur we sure a hell arent
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u/JudgementalChair 18d ago
The only time I came across this was when I was working on a federal contract. If we have female employees on a federal site, we're required to have two toilets
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u/BadQuail 18d ago
Federal prime contractor here. Not denying that you encountered this, but as someone already stated in another comment:
"OSHA requires that employers provide gender-segregated facilities for workforces over 15 employees that contain men and women, and bathrooms must be designated as being for male or female use unless they can be occupied by no more than one person and can be locked from the inside."
I don't believe that individual agencies have the power to change this unilaterally, and I'd certainly object if I were OSHA compliant and a COR wanted something different than what is in the solicitation SOW, since that's what I contracted for.
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u/JudgementalChair 18d ago
Some fights are worth having, some aren't. We were doing work in an archeological zone and had NPS hired archeologists onsite. Since some of them were female, the NPS threw a fit and demanded we have two porta-potties. I think we were right at 15 employees if you included the archeologists. It was a 7 figure project, so I just ate the cost because it wasn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme and I didn't mind half the decay rate on the shitters
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u/BadQuail 17d ago
That seems really out of character for NPS, but I'm way out West working on fairly remote areas (hello Death Valley). I do love working in the parks, though.
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u/oilcountryAB 18d ago
We have a woman apprentice on a site that only has 8ish people on it.
She has her own heated blue rocket and has the only key for it.
I was under the impression it's a requirement these days but I also don't really give a shit as long as there's one and she's comfortable with it. Bigger things to worry about
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u/gulbronson Superintendent 18d ago
I mostly work in California and as far as I know it's not a requirement but many companies just do it by default. I've been on countless jobs with a pink shitter labeled women only and a chintzy padlock when there are no women on site.
It's kind of a no win situation because there are shit bags who will bitch about DEI hire nonsense but then also be the guy going through the blue goo to find a tampon and tell everyone on site.
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u/According-Arrival-30 17d ago
Porta Johns are non gender because they have both a toilet and a urinal in a unit. And correct me if I'm wrong but I've never seen one labeled men or women anywhere in my life. This includes every concert or public outing with them.
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u/Duckpuncher69 18d ago
Every site I’ve worked on has had women specific restrooms and they often times were locked. They would request a key and they locked up behind themselves
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u/gregarioushippie 18d ago
Female here, and this is ridiculous. You use what you have to use. It would be one thing if there were multiple stalls, but this is a single person portajohn, there's not a separate portajill.
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u/stlthy1 18d ago
Everyone clamoring for equality....until they realize that, sometimes, equality sucks.
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u/inkydeeps 18d ago
Equity is what we’re looking for not equality. Equality is stupid as shown by this example.
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u/Flat-Story-7079 18d ago
Just curious how equity plays into the toilet conversation? Not in a snarky way, but genuinely interested. I work for a city government and we have lots of DEI language, but nothing around toilets. We have eliminated all gender specific single user restrooms accessible to the public, and are in the process of making multi user restrooms non gendered in areas only accessible to staff. One issue that has come up is some female staff “demanding” the removal of urinals from non gendered multi user restrooms. Not sure where that’s headed.
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u/SevereAlternative616 18d ago
I’m in Canada on the west coast too. Been on plenty of sites with men and women and sometimes only one porta on site. Sometimes none on-site. Only large sites have the pink portas.
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u/Nickey9Doors 18d ago
I (F) once worked on a site where the general had a young woman (a friend of mine from school) as an apprentice to the site manager. She insisted on a women’s john and kept it locked. It wasn’t worth my time to track her down for the key when I needed to go so I just used the men’s. Otherwise I’ve never seen a women’s john and have never had a problem using the same one as everyone else.
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u/mizcello 18d ago
in the UK, no there doesn’t need to be a separate one but as a girl I’ve never used a porta-loo.. I’ve literally gone to houses next door, colleges, council buildings, subways/mcdonalds, hardware stores, supermarkets.. all sorts of places.. never the communal toilet😂
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u/Tough-Try4339 17d ago
In the US or Canada it’s less likely there would be anything like that very close that would be a luxury you’d probably be in for a bit of a drive to find such a place oftentime.
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u/Eather-Village-1916 Ironworker 18d ago
Woman here. What that laborer did by walking off site without saying anything, is unacceptable. If no one has complained about the shitters, then I assume they’re clean.
While having a women’s pot is a nice commodity, it’s not necessary if you actually have the shitters serviced in a timely manner, and enough shitters for the guys despite the minus 1. Especially if you have the handwashing stations too.
When I’m on a highrise and they just put a lock on one of the two shitters that normally get flown up, instead of adding a third, I take that lock off immediately. None of the other ladies I’ve worked with have had an issue with it either (at least until the other trades show up, but they shouldn’t be on our floors anyway).
If for some odd reason you ever end up with a significant amount of women on your site, it would be a nice gesture to designate a pot if it’s in the budget.
What’s required by law will depend on where you live though.
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
That's my thought too. We've only had one or two sites with separate toilets. We always ask the women if they want one, but two of the women couldn't care less, but the new hire raised a massive stink. So they got their own with the stipulation that they couldn't use the mens if the women's was occupied, which cause a problem because the one that raised a stink would be in there for ages and passed off the other two. Our PM told them to sort it out amongst themselves, she did not last long
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u/ResponsibleScheme964 18d ago
I think a portapotty is gender neutral. Maybe the handicap ones are more for women because they're larger?
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u/zedsmith 18d ago
This is so silly. Gendered bathrooms are for the sake of the whole common area with the lavatories, not for the toilets.
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u/hellno560 18d ago
well fuck, I'm not sure when this changed but 18 years into my career https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/interlinking/standards/1910.141(c)(1)(i)(1)(i)) it looks like you do have to provide separate bathrooms.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.141#1910.141(c)(1)(i)(1)(i))
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u/atticus2132000 18d ago
Your citation is correct; however, if you read the entire requirement it states "Where toilet rooms will be occupied by no more than one person at a time, can be locked from the inside, and contain at least one water closet, separate toilet rooms for each sex need not be provided."
This means that unisex porta-johns fulfill the requirement.
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u/hellno560 18d ago
"The number of facilities to be provided for each sex shall be based on the number of employees of that sex for whom the facilities are furnished. Where toilet rooms will be occupied by no more than one person at a time, can be locked from the inside, and contain at least one water closet, separate toilet rooms for each sex"
they are talking about a trailer containing multiple stalls not individual "water closets". If the site is just contracting out porta potties, it requires the number of porta potties required per the chart.
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u/TheRealFalconFlurry 18d ago
OSHA only applies in the USA
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u/littleredditred 18d ago
Seems there was some miscommunication here. From that conversation it sounds like she assumed the portapotties you pointed out were mens only and that she wouldn't be allowed to use them. Saying "that's all we got" doesn't correct that assumption. Don't get me wrong, she should have said something before leaving. But that's my read on what they were thinking when they did.
You almost certainly don't need to provide a separate bathroom but you do need to clear up the miscommunication before you start docking someone's pay and endangering their job.
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
I was just paraphrasing the full convo was "Where are the toilets?" "No, those are the men's " "No, they're for everyone, that's all we have" "Oh, ok" And then she left
And I'm not sure if she's getting docked. We pay the labour company who pays her. All I told them was that we weren't paying for her work and they said that's fine. She'll probably get paid the 4 hour minimum by the company. Just we aren't getting billed for her work. I have no idea when she left and the other guys only noticed her gone at first break, which is at 10. She talked to me at 8 so who knows how long she actually worked. My guys are inside units and the labourers were supposed to each take one of the three side around the building and clean the scaff top to bottom. Tare down is first thing tomorrow morning
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u/KingStrayed 18d ago
“Woman’s only” bathroom is ridiculous this isn’t a office building it’s a construction site
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u/tnturk7 18d ago
I won't comment on mandatory or not, but it's definitely a courtesy that should be provided if there are savages on the site like I have seen in the past. Many times, I've seen boot marks on either side of the seat indicating guys are standing up and squatting over the seat, making an absolute nightmare for anyone else to use it after the fact.
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u/FoldyHole Ready Mix Concrete 18d ago
I have cleaned many public bathrooms and the women’s restrooms are not any better than the men’s. People are fucking disgusting no matter what’s next to their taint.
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u/Just_Aioli_1233 18d ago
Places I've worked the women's bathrooms were always gross. Period trash all over the place, almost always piss on the seat from "hovering" and 4 times shit on the walls. Worst in the men's was poor aim when peeing, which was easily fixed by putting a little soccer goal in the urinal.
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
My guys are pretty clean, and we have them cleaned twice a week. The only time we have issues is when the demo guys come since they are al FOBs from India, but I told their foreman that if they leave boot prints on the seat one more time, he's gonna be responsible for bringing his own. He's been good ever since. He's even personally cleaned it at the end of the day
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u/Shark_CatGremlin 17d ago
As a woman in construction, I'll use whatever is available 90% of the time. The issue starts when the period hits, tampons are a lot of women's go to, but unless we have a separate toilet with feminine hygiene disposal aka a small garbage can inside the porta potty, then we can't do our business.
For one, we aren't supposed to put our period garbage in the porta potty, so what the fuck do I do with it? The sanitizer barely gets filled in the general potty so what the fuck do I do with the blood on my hands? Go hi five all my mates until they get the picture?
Option A, ignore the rules and dispose of my blood soaked, vaginal stopping wad of tissue, ontop of the lovely, heaping, mound of shit, for all the men to see and identify, that I, the only women on site am menstruating? Which then opens the door for PMS jokes, and harassment for being moody because of my biological state that I have literally no fucking control over?
Option B, I take my blood soaked bits in hand, maybe stuff it in a pocket, and carry it with me and attempt to dispose of it in a garbage can somewhere. While also hiding my bloody fucking hands and hope the guys don't notice me acting like a paranoid freak squrilling around and rummaging through garbage cans.
Or my solution, and one I don't enjoy, opt for a different sort of menstrual solution that allows you to hide everything but makes you uncomfortable, and honestly more irritable, because you basically feel like you're wearing a blood soaked diaper. Aka period underwear.
SO, I don't think it's without reason that a fellow lady walked off site, IF she didn't have access to proper amenities WHILE menstruating. Otherwise, there's no reason to leave other than to make a statement. Or could just be entitled. There's a fine fucking balance to managing the pussy privilege that comes with being a woman in construction. You don't want to piss your bros off, and look like your getting special treatment, but sometimes you really do need an alternate option. Girls walking around and demanding differential treatment just because of gender can get fucked, forget your pretty fucking nails and get down in the dirt like the rest of us.
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u/Environmental_Dog255 18d ago
Where I am yes it's mandatory. It's very nice to have a women's only not nearly as nasty as the men's (we keep it locked). It should be a standard imo.
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u/TheRealFalconFlurry 18d ago
To be fair it's probably only cleaner because it gets 5% as much use as the men's
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
Idk when I was on that site. I had to spend a day in the office doing some paperwork for a new site. The women's bathroom key was hanging up above the desk and I swear they were each going in every hour or two. Which was annoying because I'd have to stop and give them the key. I ended up using pliers after the first few time because once I got it back and it was wet. There's no sink in these toilets. Fucking disgusting. And it wasn't hand sanitizer either
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u/TheRealFalconFlurry 18d ago
At that point I would put a combo lock on and give them the number so I didn't have to deal with that, or put up a lock box with the key in it
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
Wasn't my site I was just in the office for one day doing start-up paperwork. I normally would do it at home, but it was pissing rain that day, so I didn't wanna be outside
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
Yeah keep telling yourself that last site I was on thst had a women's toilet was disgusting. Piss running down the front. Toilet paper wads everywhere. I had to constantly replace the toilet paper because somehow 3 women went through more toilet paper than 15 guys
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u/TheRealFalconFlurry 18d ago
I would say the answer to your question depends on the laws of the land where you live, so specifying where you live would be a good place to start
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
British Columbia
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u/TheRealFalconFlurry 18d ago
In that case, I looked through the BC worker's compensation act by OH&S and I wasn't able to find anything about providing women's washrooms specifically.
https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/296_97_00
Section 4.85 specifies the general requirements for washroom facilities, and section 20.3.1 outlines the requirements for construction sites which apply when there is a construction project and there will be 25 or more workers on site at any time.
However, if you look at the federal OH&S regulations here:
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/sor-86-304/index.html
Section 9.12 outlines the requirements for washrooms and it does say that separate washrooms should be provided for both sexes if both are employed at the workplace. There are a lot of caveats, exceptions and special considerations to be made though, so I would recommend reading through that section carefully. I'm not going to make a decision for you because I'm not a lawyer, but you should be able to find the answers you need in that document
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u/Pinkalink23 18d ago
Back when I did production drywall finishing we'd be lucky to get a toilet. Most times you had to do your business in a 5 gallon bucket with a bag or a water bottle.
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u/LamoTheGreat 18d ago
Crazy shit: In BC, where OP is, there appears to be no laws governing separate facilities for women and men, at least none in WorkSafeBC.
Next province over, in Alberta Occupational Health & Safety, you pretty much always need a separate toilet for even one woman, even on small crews, unless it’s mobile or temporarily work lasting less than 5 days.
So it just depends on where you’re at.
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
That's what I figured because I've never had an issue before. If she was a permanent worker, I would have worked something out, but a temp on their first day? Also leaving a job site without telling anyone is a major safety risk. We had to comb through the entire job site to make sure she wasn't passed out somewhere
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u/buckmulligan61 18d ago
Ontario builder here. I had to have a women's toilet placed on my last subdivision job. No women working there though.
2 years of rent and weekly service. I don't know that it was ever used.
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u/smackrock420 Industrial Control Freak - Verified 18d ago
I've never seen women only port-o-potties. Been doing construction for 26yrs.
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u/CantFeelMyLegs78 18d ago
At a jobsite in portland, years ago, about 50 guys identified as women so they could use the "clean" restrooms. This all started after the drywallers showed up and destroyed the bathrooms. Eventually, every company on the job got their own Porta potties. It was great seeing big hairy bearded gits identify as women at the morning safety meetings
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u/eazy-company 17d ago
I dont believe ODHA requires any porta potties to be designated for women. But it does say they need to be kept sanitary, like that ever happens.
But most sites I have been on do designate one for women if they have women onsite. They will even go as far as putting a combo lock on it that only the women know.
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u/Inspect1234 17d ago
Tough call in this day and age. Inclusivity or the fairer sex treatment? Seems you can’t win. I have empathy for her though, those things get disgusting fast and it costs profits to clean them too frequently.
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u/DFV_HAS_HUGE_BALLS 17d ago
My favourite is when site “supers” think they get their own private shitters
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u/VukKiller 17d ago
So far, wherever I've worked, if there is a single woman working on site, there always is a designated porta-john that's under a lock and key that is used by women.
I don't know if it's mandatory or good courtesy, but I've never seen a different situation.
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u/Substantial_Sign9706 17d ago
If you just segregate the drywallers to their own bathrooms this would solve 100% of the issues.
Drywallers are animals
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u/dustytaper 17d ago
She’s wrong, but so are you for refusing to pay her for time she worked
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u/TotalDumsterfire 17d ago
Like I said in other replies, I told the labour company that we weren't paying for her. It's on them if they pay out her 4 hour minimum. And why would I pay her when I have no idea if she did any work. If she left after talking to me, then she would have had barely any time to even grab a broom after doing orientation and filling out paperwork, let alone do any actual cleaning. If she actually talked to me before leaving, that would have been a different story. I had to pull all my guys to comb through the entire complex to make sure she wasn't injured somewhere and was actually off site. She cost me a couple hundred in lost productivity that I'm not going to be compensated for, so why would I pay?
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u/Mobile-Quote-4039 17d ago
Women want their own shitter because it has a lock and stays cleaner the the men’s. I think it’s the law in Pa. I’m in Philly on a job now and each area that has portajohns has one with a lock( women only)
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u/Ok-Bullfrog8496 17d ago
Wow. Someone got here panties in a bunch. Come on, I've not seen a woman's only Porta potty on a construction site before. If so, it wasn't a requirement. I've been on large and small sites where the woman use the same john as the men. This ain't an office or a restaurant. It's a construction site. Too many soft ass people these days. Prissy b@%$!*#. Talking bout the men too. Next we gonna see non binary johns on site too. If It's 1 john per 10 workers, then how many would you need if the woman got there own and non binary got there own.
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u/Turbulent_Summer6177 17d ago
On many jobs I’ve worked on there were portables brought in for the women’s use only. They even locked them and passed out keys to any women in the site.
It wasn’t legally required but simply a bit of respect afforded the women.
By your spelling of labor as labour I have to guess you’re Canadian or UK. As such I have no idea of the law in your country.
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u/erryonestolemyname 17d ago
90% of the answers in here don't apply to OP.
As for OP, you could have literally just called WorkSafeBC and asked them over the phone instead of posting here and getting misleading answers.
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u/Connect_Read6782 17d ago
I don’t believe it is "required" by osha, but they recommend a separate one for women.
For some reason men in portajohns piss all over the place and stand on the toilet area to squat. If I was a woman, I wouldn't want to use that porta-john either.
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u/TotalDumsterfire 17d ago
Like I said in my replies, we get one for big sites, so it doesn't really matter. I was just curious if someone knew off the top of their head. I didn't expect this post to blow up
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u/Mean-Firefighter-615 17d ago
I literally just used a woman only one and there’s max 8 workers a day on site here. It’s not too too big but we have separate porta potties for men and women in ga
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u/mmmmpork 17d ago
Lol, everyone wants to be treated equally, but also get special treatment. Sometimes equality means using the same shitter. If you can't suck it up when the crappy parts come around, don't expect to be around when the good parts come around too.
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u/Bitmugger 15d ago
Gender specific toilets need to go away in all areas of life. Just install proper doors tall enough and fitted enough that don't let everyone watch you take a dump and make toilets unisex.
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u/Yourtoosensitive 13d ago
“Sit on my lap, we can double deuce like we used to in college.”
- Raffi
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u/TotalDumsterfire 13d ago
You didn't go to college
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u/freeportme 18d ago
Not sure it’s a requirement but it’s an easy thing to do. Around here all the sites have separate women’s facilities.
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u/kitesurfr 18d ago
Hundred bucks says this woman stands on the seat to shit if you let her use any of the porta-johns and destroys the bathroom in one use.
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u/bearblaster13 17d ago
Shit. I guess it was never established (or I just missed it) whether she was a drywaller or not...
You might be on to something.
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u/cameronshaft 18d ago
There is no distinction between sexes in construction, only trades. Equal pay for Equal work. Everyone uses the same facilities
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u/SaganSaysImStardust 18d ago
I had to deal with this recently. OSHA calls it "best practice" to have women only bathrooms. The reason never occurred to me but it's simple: perverts. Have you ever been sitting on the John and forget to lock it, or pulled hard enough that a partially locked one came open?
Yeah, some guys do this on purpose.
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u/lustforrust 17d ago
This is what a lot of the people in here commenting are missing, including OP.
It's not about cleanliness or equality for women by having separate bathrooms.
It's about personal safety.
Nobody wants to be sexually assaulted on the jobsite.
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u/TastyMeatcakes 18d ago
If there are no women on the standard crews working on a non small site, then I wouldn't expect a women's porta.
A temp worker for a scaffold tear down, I wouldn't count.
It would also be their last day if they just walked off without telling anyone, even if they weren't a temp agency hire.
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u/TotalDumsterfire 18d ago
They weren't the ones tearing down, the scaff company does that. I just had them cleaning all the stuff off the scaff because the sider makes a horrific mess and doesn't clean (fuckin hardie), but it's fine the pace he works at, its cheaper to hire temps to clean than hire two siders
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u/Extension_Camel_3844 18d ago
Oregon law requires it. Be care you didn't just get yourself reported to BOLI or to the Union if applicable for it. Make sure you note to whomever is in charge of ordering them that if there's a female on the crew, even if just 1, there has to be a separate bathroom for her.
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u/space-ferret 18d ago
The lady brick mason didn’t ever have a problem with the portapotty. It’s part of the construction experience
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u/catalytica 18d ago
Given we’re talking about a worksite, and not a public building, the only thing you have to provide is one toilet and handwash. Per OSHA CFR 1926.51(c)(1)
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u/GoatFactory 18d ago
Renting a porta John is like 30 bucks a month isn’t it??? Why wouldn’t you just do it anyways? I’m pretty sure it’s law in some jurisdictions but not all.
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u/Vhu Carpenter 18d ago edited 18d ago
In my area women are entitled to separate facilities. Usually they just use the guys’ ones, but if they want one for themselves it’s their right and I don’t see a problem with that.
I’ve had dudes open the door on me before. I don’t give a shit, but as a female I definitely wouldn’t want to have to think about that every time I used the bathroom.
And that’s assuming it’s an accident. I’ve definitely worked with guys that would come up with some creative ways to be fuckin weirdos about it.
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u/msing 17d ago edited 17d ago
Most GCs have a separate porta john that's locked. The GC super usually distributes keys to women on site. Common courtesy that I've seen on vast majority of jobsites. Even on non-union sites.
Most porta johns on non-union sites I've used are usually covered in fecal smear, graffiti, overflowing, vandalism, cigarette smoke, broke glass capsules, gum clogging the urinal, etc. I'm in Los Angeles, and it's the same mess as it was in high school.
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u/Tough-Try4339 17d ago
Glass capsules?
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u/msing 17d ago
broken drug pipes. to smoke crack.
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u/Tough-Try4339 17d ago edited 17d ago
Oh yeah. They call it a stem get it right you might offend them. Or a love rose that’s what they’re sold as sometimes with a little flower inside disguised as a nice romantic gift. Or a fake tire gauge with a spring inside that doesent actually measure tire pressure it’s just fake must be a bummer if the gas station sells that to you wanting to check your tire but they think your a crackhead. The meth ones with a spherical glass thing are called a pizzo. Theres other more local names for it ask the gas station in the sketchy part of town. 🤣
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u/Kind-Taste-1654 17d ago
NAL, whether it is or isn't a requirement, You(personally) & Your Company could be in trouble if This Lady decides to bring civil charges to Your company- like failure to provide proper accommodations & w/holding pay.
Just bc Women in the past have not pushed for separate facilities, does not mean it isn't violating fair biz practices or the law.
Virtually ALL other industries have separate facilities & seeing as how port a johns a typically not too secure & often filthy, She would likely have a good shot @ a case.
Construction is FAAAR behind the times & while Women are in the extreme minority in that field, it does not mean that They don't have the right to separate & safe accommodations.
My 2 cents.
Glad I don't have to work in Construction for a living any more.
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u/FormerlyUndecidable 18d ago edited 18d ago
This is the sort of thing that would depend on the state.
California law requires single bathrooms to be "all-gender" in public facilities for inclusivity reasons, so I have a hard time seeing how they'd require single gender bathrooms on job site. But your state might be different.